Thematic working group 3: learning providers and migration: empowerment and integration through learning

The first meeting of the working group 3 took place on 2 and 3 May 2017 in Vienna to define its work programme 2017-20.

Participants shared the Community’s overall motto: Think European Act Locally and agreed to the principle that work should depart from VET-providers’ priorities in the specific field and be based on their own experience and know-how. In parallel reflection will be enriched through the outcomes of relevant EU- funded projects, Cedefop work and the EU Commission related policies.

The group will work through structured information sharing and expert cooperation with the aim to formulate concrete practical guidelines on how best to support VET-providers in meeting migration-related challenges.

Participants agreed that work should be based on two distinct but interrelated pillars:

validation and recognition of migrants’/refugees’ skills and competences;

factors enabling migrants’ and refugees’ socio-cultural integration

Under the validation pillar the following three issues will be considered:

Schools’/VET institutions’ staff as agents of integration: role and competences;

VET institutions as cultural mediators between migrants/refugees and hosting country communities.

The working group 3 endorsed the same tentative work schedule as working group 1 “TEL” and working group 2 “Learning mobility”:

2017 to be devoted to consolidating the group’s composition, to taking stock of what exists and to identifying the necessary documentation;

2018 and 2019 to focus on selecting and prioritising the issues to be addressed, defining content , mapping and analysing cases and starting drafting practical guidelines to the attention of VET-providers and the EU Commission;

2020 to be devoted to finalising and making available the group’s outcomes.

However the group is aware that in order to be able to feed in the revision process of the Riga Conclusions, it should make its suggestions available to the European Commission by end 2019.